1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems. More particularly, the disclosure relates to lead extensions used in DBS systems.
2. Discussion
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems have begun to demonstrate clinical usefulness for a wide variety of conditions such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, Parkinson's disease, Essential Tremor, Dystonia and Parkinsonian tremor. Certain developments in DBS systems have centered around implantable neuro-stimulators, which are generators capable of delivering electrical pulses, physician programming devices, which enable the medical practitioner to tailor the electrical pulses for the desired application, and lead assemblies, which facilitate delivery of the electrical pulses from the generator to the targeted area of the brain. While conventional DBS systems have advanced rehabilitation and treatment in a number of areas, certain challenges remain.
One concern relates to assessing the results of DBS treatment. In particular, the typical DBS system might use a generator and lead assembly to deliver the electrical pulses to the brain, and a separate electroencephalogram (EEG) detector and electrodes to monitor the resulting brain activity. The ability to determine the relationship between the outgoing pulses and the resulting EEG activity may be limited due to the fact that the DBS system and EEG system reside on different platforms. Other solutions employ an EEG electrode at the tip of the stimulation lead in order to detect activity at the treatment site. This approach, however, does not provide the ability to obtain signals from other, less invasive, locations such as scalp locations or subcutaneous locations.